Robot system and method for ball loading for loading into SAG and/or ball mills in ore concentration processes

ABSTRACT

At present, ball loading into SAG mills should be carried out as part of the maintenance procedure that SAG mills should be subjected to. The disadvantage of this procedure is that the automatic dosing unit regularly clogs, and it must be loaded manually. Similarly, the low storage capacity requires the continuous use of the crane. Due to the above, a robot system and method have been developed which are able to carry out this task automatically, in order to automate the ball loading operation in SAG mills by reducing the time used for maintenance.  
     The robotic system is composed mainly of a robotic manipulator ( 1 ) of at least 5 degrees of freedom, and a grip mechanism ( 2 ) which allows, in a sequential and programmed way, to take, manipulate and release, from a ball holder rack ( 3 ) located at one of its sides, a certain number of grinding balls to be defined later ( 4 ), which are moved through a defined path to the inside of the SAG mill ( 5 ) in which they are deposited.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/734,989 filed 2005 Nov. 10 by the present inventor

FEDERAL SPONSORED RESEARCH

Not Applicable

SEQUENCE LISTING OR PROGRAM

Not Applicable

BACKGROUND

1. Field of Invention

This invention relates to the use of robotic technology in mining industry, specifically in the concentrator area.

2. Prior Art

Once the mineral is extracted from the mine, it should be subjected to a treatment to increase its purity. This metallurgical treatment is called concentration, which is carried out in a concentrating plant usually located near the production unit of the mine. This plant concentrates the minerals, until their metal content reaches commercial values. The stages of this process are crushing and milling (the progressive reduction of particles until reaching sizes lower than one millimeter), followed by the flotation process using chemical reagents, where the valuable mineral (copper and molybdenum concentrates) is separated from the gangue (which is the worthless material, called tailing).

In the milling stage, special reactors called grinding mills are used in which the mineral comminution process is carried out (the process in which the particle is broken to a smaller size). This process is carried out by combining impact and abrasion under dry conditions or in a water suspension.

As part of the normal operation process of SAG mills, the grinding balls should be loaded into the reactor. However, the automatic dosing unit clogs on a continuous basis and the reactor must be loaded manually. Similarly, the low storage capacity requires the continuous use of a crane.

From the economic point of view, one of the major disadvantages which the current method used for ball loading is the long time this operation takes, which generates a loss in the equipment productivity due to the fact that production is reduced because of mill stoppage.

Another disadvantage of the current method for ball loading is safety. Sometimes the personnel is required to go inside the equipment, which is usually a risky action, mainly due to the fact that some elements which are trapped between the liners fall down.

Due to the above, a robot system and method have been developed which allow to carry out an automated ball loading process into the SAG mills, so as to diminish the time spent for ball loading and to reduce risk of accidents in the personnel.

SUMMARY

A robot system with a pneumatic gripping mechanism which allows the loading of grinding balls from a ball holder rack to the SAG mill.

DRAWINGS—FIGURES

In the drawings, closely related figures share the same numbers, with different alphabetic suffixes.

FIG. 1. View of the robotic manipulator loading a ball into a SAG and/or ball mill.

FIG. 2. General view of a robot system for loading balls into a SAG and/or ball mill in ore concentration processes.

DRAWINGS—REFERENCE NUMERALS

-   -   1. Robotic manipulator     -   2. Gripping mechanism     -   3. Ball holder rack     -   4. Grinding balls     -   5. SAG mill

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

This invention relates to a new robot system as well as a robotic method for grinding ball loading procedures into SAG and/or ball mills, which are carried out automatically through anthropomorphous robotic arms of at least 5 degrees of freedom, which are installed at one side of the SAG mill. With reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the robot system is composed mainly of one robotic manipulator (1) of at least 5 degrees of freedom, provided with a communication, acquisition and control system, and a grip mechanism (2) to allow, in a sequential and programmed way, to take, manipulate, and release, from a ball holder rack (3) located at one of its sides, a number of grinding balls to be defined (4), which are moved through a defined path until reaching the inside of the SAG mill (5) in which they are deposited. 

1. A robot system for ball loading into SAG and/or ball mills in ore concentration processes comprising an anthropomorphous robotic arm of at least 5 degrees of freedom, one control, communication and programming unit, one gripper adapter, one pneumatic gripper, its fingers, one pneumatic gripper driving system, one electric supply system and one slide-type ball loading system wherein the anthropomorphous robotic arm of at least 5 degrees of freedom is provided with a pneumatic grip mechanism which allows the sequential and programmed taking, manipulation and release of a grinding ball from a ball holder rack located at one of its sides, and moves it through a definite path, until reaching the loading system, through which the ball moves and is deposited in the inner part of the SAG mill.
 2. A robot system for ball loading into SAG and/or ball mills in the ore concentration processes according to claim 1, wherein the robotic manipulator has the capacity to take, manipulate and release one or more grinding balls from a ball holder rack located at one of its sides and moves it within the work volume of the robot system.
 3. A robot system for ball loading into SAG and/or ball mills in ore concentration processes according to claim 1, wherein the robotic manipulator deposits the ball into the loading system where it moves to be deposited inside the SAG and/or ball mill.
 4. A robot system for ball loading into SAG and/or ball mills in ore concentration processes according to claim 1, wherein the anthropomorphous robotic manipulator could communicate by itself or through a PLC interface with the control system.
 5. A robot system for ball loading into SAG and/or ball mills in ore concentration processes according to claim 1, wherein the anthropomorphous robotic manipulator has the capacity to obtain and interpret the information of installed analogue and/or digital sensors.
 6. A robot system for ball loading into SAG and/or ball mills in ore concentration processes according to claim 1, wherein the anthropomorphous robotic manipulator has the capacity to generate analogue and/or digital signals to control analogue and/or digital input devices.
 7. A robot system for ball loading into SAG and/or ball mills in ore concentration processes according to claim 1, wherein the robotic manipulator has a pneumatic gripper mechanism which allows to take, manipulate and release the grinding balls from a ball holder rack located at one of its sides.
 8. A robot system for ball loading into SAG and/or ball mills in ore concentration processes according to claim 1, wherein the robotic manipulator of at least 5 degrees of freedom is mounted on a fixed and/or mobile support located between the SAG mill and the ball holder rack.
 9. A robot system for ball loading into SAG and/or ball mills in ore concentration processes according to claim 1, wherein the anthropomorphous robotic manipulator of at least 5 degrees of freedom has an electrical system driven by three-stage induction motors, with vectorial and/or scalar control.
 10. A robot system for ball loading into SAG and/or ball mills in ore concentration processes according to claim 1, wherein productivity and efficiency of ball loading processes into SAG mills increase, and the equipment operation time decreases.
 11. A robot system for ball loading into SAG and/or ball mills in ore concentration processes according to claim 1, wherein the system may operate automatically, or semi automatically, and also allows solutions scalability.
 12. A robot system for ball loading into SAG and/or ball mills in ore concentration processes according to claim 1, wherein it could be integrated to the ball loading operation not only in the comminution process of different metals such as copper, molybdenum, zinc, lead etc., but also it could be used for ball loading, either individually or in collaboration, in a wide range of other industrial productive processes.
 13. A robotic method for ball loading procedures into SAG and/or ball mills in ore concentration processes using the robot system of claim 1 to 12, wherein the anthropomorphous robotic arm of at least 5 degrees of freedom is provided with a pneumatic gripper mechanism which allows in a sequential and programmed way to take, manipulate and release one grinding ball from a ball holder rack located at one of its sides, and moves it through a definite path, until reaching the slide-type loading system through which the ball moves and is deposited inside the SAG mill
 14. A robotic method for ball loading procedures into SAG and/or ball mills of ore concentration processes using the robot System of claim 1 to 12, wherein the robotic manipulator has the capacity to take, manipulate and release a grinding ball from a ball holder rack located at one of its sides, and moves it within the work volume of the robot system.
 15. A robotic method for ball loading procedures into SAG and/or ball mills in ore concentration processes using the robot System of claim 1 to 12, wherein the anthropomorphous robotic manipulator could communicate by itself or through a PLC interface with the control system.
 16. A robotic method for ball loading procedures into SAG and/or ball mills of ore concentration processes using the robot System of claim 1 to 12, wherein the anthropomorphous robotic manipulator has the capacity to get and interpret the information from installed analogue and/or digital sensors.
 17. A robotic method for ball loading procedures into SAG and/or ball mills in ore concentration processes using the robot System of claim 1 to 12, wherein the anthropomorphous robotic manipulator has the capacity to generate analogue and/or digital signals to control the analogue and/or digital inputs devices.
 18. A robotic method for ball loading procedures into SAG and/or ball mills in ore concentration processes using the robot System of claim 1 to 12, wherein the robotic manipulator deposits the ball into the loading system where it moves inside the SAG and/or ball mill.
 19. A robotic method for ball loading procedures into SAG and/or ball mills in ore concentration processes using the robot System of claim 1 to 12, wherein the robotic manipulator has a pneumatic gripper mechanism which allows to take, manipulate and release one grinding ball from a ball holder rack located at one of its sides.
 20. A robotic method for ball loading procedures into SAG and/or ball mills in ore concentration processes using the robot System of claim 1 to 12, wherein the robotic manipulator of at least 5 degrees of freedom is mounted on a fixed and/or mobile support located between the SAG mill and the ball holder rack.
 21. A robotic method for ball loading procedures into SAG and/or ball mills in ore concentration processes using the robot System of claim 1 to 12, wherein the anthropomorphous robotic manipulator of at least 5 degrees of freedom, has an electrical system driven by three-stage induction motors with vectorial and/or scalar control.
 22. A robotic method for ball loading procedures into SAG and/or ball mills in ore concentration processes using the robot System of claim 1 to 12, wherein productivity and efficiency of ball loading procedure in SAG and/or ball mills increase, and the equipment operation time decreases.
 23. A robotic method for ball loading procedures into SAG and/or ball mills in ore concentration procedures using the robot System of claim 1 to 12, wherein the system may operate automatically or semi automatically, and also allows solution scalability.
 24. A robotic method for ball loading procedures into SAG and/or ball mills in ore concentration processes using the robot System of claim 1 to 12, wherein it could be integrated to the ball loading operation not only in the comminution process of different metals such as copper, molybdenum, zinc, lead etc., but also it could be used for ball loading, either individually or in collaboration, in a wide range of other industrial productive processes. 